E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Atta boy, Peter Alan!
Sunday, 09 10, 2006
Sitting at the gallery of the House of Representatives, and watching Rep. Peter Alan Cayetano of Taguig-Pateros socking it one more time to the First Family, i.e., the presumptive President, her one and only husband, their only son in politics (for now), and the suddenly extremely wealthy uncle, by mimicking the delivery of the infamous “I am sorry” speech, one cannot help but believe — make that convinced — there is truth to the revelations of this young man.
By saying “I am not sorry,” Peter Alan had in fact delivered the message to the First Family that he will not back down, he will face the libel cases, he will confront the disbarment complaint, and he will defy the threat of expulsion from the House of Representatives. Given his strong will to press on with his charge that the First Family holds a multi-million account in the German HypoVereins Bank, despite all the threats against him, Peter Alan is in fact saying: “Ow, common, the truth is on my side. I will be vindicated, and you will eat the dust of your lies!”
They have truly gone on the offensive against Peter Alan — in fact, filing all the complaints they threatened they would file — but has the First Family done enough to make it any worse and unbearable for the congressman, and thereby pound him to submission? No, if Peter Alan’s persistence is any indication. In fact, he has upped the ante, by demanding the waiver that would pave the way for the release of any and all information on the bank account, if any.
The waiver is, indeed, the key.
One recalls the way Senator Ping Lacson handled the same charge leveled against him not too long ago — that he has bank accounts everywhere. Without hesitation, he executed a waiver on all restrictions against disclosure of his alleged accounts. And, immediately, Ping was vindicated.
But the First Family is treating it differently, by claiming that a waiver is not necessary because there is nothing to waive. One gets the feeling that is nothing more than a schoolboy’s denial that he has dipped his right hand into grandma’s cookie jar for the truth is it was his left hand that did it. To be more specific, the First Family is simply saying there is no bank account now, there is no such money now, and, therefore, there is nothing to waive now. But then again, that is not equivalent to saying there was never any bank account then, or that there never was any such big amount of money in the bank then, or that it was in somebody else’s name then. And their quibbling about the correct account number is just about what lawyers would say is a “negative pregnant.”
The waiver opens the bank mentioned by Alan to scrutiny; the account details will thereby be exposed, if there is such an account. Or, the waiver will expose Peter Alan as a liar, if the bank records will not disclose anything that support his accusation. But the First Family’s refusal to sign any waiver, and instead seek to subject Peter Alan to submission with their offensive against him on all fronts, makes it doubly hard for them to convince the public there is no such account. They are simply creating other fronts in the fight for the truth, which only distract the public’s attention from the real issue, away from the strength of Peter Alan’s accusation. Obfuscation, if you will.
Why would Peter Alan, in the face of the juggernaut counter-offensive of the First Family, not back down? The answer is simple: He knows the truth is on his side.
Peter Alan is a lawyer, a good lawyer at that, and probably better than all of the First Family’s lawyers combined. He could not have been that reckless to expose himself to all the perils he now faces from the powerful and influential First Family, without being armed with the truth, which is his strongest weapon. Admire this young man for all his guts.
The guts that he admirably exhibits springs from knowing where he stands, whereof he speaks and the truth behind them. That should be infectious among his colleagues in the opposition in the House of Representatives, but that is the sorry part of the whole exposé. Save for Representative Rolex Suplico of Iloilo, who has come out publicly to the aid of Peter Alan, no one else in the opposition has said even a whimper to say “Alan, I am with you.” Worse, Rep. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, the leader of the opposition who is busy securing a seat in the Senate next year is, as usual, silent on the matter. This is now the Biblical story in reverse. Peter Alan is being denied more than thrice by his colleagues whom he needs most in his hour of agony over the onslaught of the First Family.
Peter Alan is the hero of the moment for the Filipino people who are suffering under a regime notorious for never-ending stream of scandals that continue to rock it. The cases do not faze him at all. By being man enough to persist in his accusation that $500 million of the people’s money is stashed away somewhere, the congressman is dragging the First Family to its biggest fight ever. Peter Alan is dictating the terms of the fight. And as in all fights like this, it is the one dictating the tempo that eventually wins the fight. Peter Alan is well on his way to prove the truth of his accusation.
No comments:
Post a Comment